1. W ELCOME TO Y INGHUA A CADEMY K INDERGARTEN

2. M AIN T OPICS FOR T ONIGHT Chinese Language Arts curriculum Singapore Math Science Whole School and Classroom Expectations How to get involved at school Important Events

3. K INDERGARTEN C HINESE L ANGUAGE A RTS C URRICULUM  My First Chinese Words 36 Book set from Better Chinese  I Love Chinese: The 14 book set from Better Chinese  青 (qīng) 田 (tián) story books  Singapore reading materials  Reading materials from China

4. B ASIC C ONCEPTS OF I MMERSION E DUCATION  Language acquisition vs. Language Learning  Chinese immersion environment  Connect sound to print and connect print to meaning (Same as MN English Language Arts standards)

5. I MMERSION T EACHING S TRATEGIES  Use daily routine phrases  Visual aids  Body language  Facial expressions  Sing Chinese songs  Recite Chinese poems  Nursery rhymes  Read stories

6. H OW TO G ET OFF TO A G OOD S TART W RITING C HINESE C HARACTERS  Be familiar with the 18 basic strokes  Follow the writing rules  Use the proper stroke order when writing characters  Practice is the key

7. W HAT ARE C HINESE C HARACTERS ?  Multiple types of characters (e.g. pictographs, ideographs, compound pictographs, compound ideographs, semi-phonetic compounds, etc..)  Starting with simple characters, such as pictographic characters

8. E XAMPLES OF P ICTOGRAPHIC C HARACTERS

9. E XAMPLE OF A C HINESE C HARACTER

10. W HEN Y OUR C HILD G RADUATES FROM YA K INDERGARTEN Your child--  Will be able to understand the classroom directions from teachers in Chinese  Will be able to express their needs and wants with Chinese speakers  Will understand the basic strokes and formation of characters  Will be able to write at least 80 Chinese characters  Will recognize at least 150 Chinese characters

12. S INGAPORE M ATH Singapore Math Method - follows a spiral progression - Principles: Three step learning model, moving from the concrete, to the pictorial, to the abstract -consistent and strong emphasis on problem solving and model drawing

13. S INGAPORE M ATH Suitable for immersion program -Builds upon preceding levels. -Explanations of math concepts are exceptionally clear and simple.

14. S CIENCE Follows the MN Science Standard Follows the Core Knowledge Scope and Sequence Integrates with Chinese Language Arts in the immersion classroom,e.g. observe plants growth Fosters a science attitude: "The success of science has more to do with an attitude common to scientists than with a particular method. This attitude is one of inquiry, experimentation, and humility before the facts." - Paul G. Hewitt, Conceptual Physics, Second Edition, p. 3 Hands on activities, experiment experiences

15. S CIENCE Elementary school children are in a concrete operational stage of their development. (Piaget, 1958) --Invisible things must be represented in concrete form to enable these children to grasp the concepts.

17. I N Y OUR H ANDOUT Kindergarten Curriculum Map School Wide Calendar Class Schedule Class List Kindergarten Classroom Rules

18. A H APPY AND S UCCESSFUL Y EAR Read to your child everyday Good rest and eat well Check sent home folder every night Check our Classroom Page weekly (password: welovechinese) Arrive at school on time and pick up on time Individual snack in the backpack Turn in homework on time Learn with your child Be involved

19. E XCITING E VENTS Three field trips Star of the week Grandparents’ Day- October 23 Chinese New Year Performance-2/08/2013 Academic Performance-5/17/2013

20. C OMMUNICATE WITH U S VIA … E-mail Notes in the folder Class Coordinators KG4 Coordinators are: Ana Ly, Carrie North Casey Piersma, Jeralyn Thelen, Matt Hinton Kinder Campus Office (Kinder cell 612-212-4463 ) Report an Absence”- go to the Yinghua home page and scroll to the bottom, there is a link in the black bar at bottom. Click on that link and fill in the form, the school will receive an email with the information.

21. 谢 ( XIE )